Press releases

May 15, 2008
WaterAid addresses UN Sustainable Development meeting

WaterAid's Policy Director, Margaret Batty, delivered a poignantspeech at the UN's 16th Commission for Sustainable Development in NewYork this week:

Thank you Mr Chairman.

I have learnt so much from the discussions over the last few days and I am humbled by the expertise in the room.
 
My organization, the NGO WaterAid, has been working to provide waterand sanitation for over 25 years. We reach over one million people withwater and a further one million with sanitation in 17 countries everyyear.

But sanitation must be flagged, because there is a blind spot indevelopment policy around sanitation, a failure to recognize itsintegral role in reducing poverty and to the achievement of all of theMDGs.

There are many other people here today who have been working tirelesslytowards the same goal. And as we all know 189 world leaders pledged tohalve the proportion of people in the world without water andsanitation by 2015.
 
AND YET, here we all are today still talking about a global water andsanitation crisis. How can this be? This, my friends, is the perfectexam question - wehave the answers - we know what it takes to solve the world's water andsanitation crisis.

Excuse me if I simplify:

•  It costs money
•  It requires coordination with health and education policies
•  It's about pro-poor and rights-based policies
•  It demands better governance
•  A focus on Africa
•  Determination to tackle the growing challenges of  urbanization and water resources management
•  And - above all - political leadership
• So, if we have the answers, how have we failed this basic test of humanity?

I know that if I throw some figures out, most of you will know what they represent:

• 1.1 billion, 2.5 billion - the numbers of people lacking water and sanitation.
• 443 million - the number of school days lost every year due to diarrhea.
• 50% of hospital beds in the developing world are occupied by patients with diarrheal illness.
• 2076 - the year that Sub-Saharan Africa is likely to meet the MDG sanitation target.
• 5,000 The number of children who die from diarrhea every day.

They are shocking, but, wearyingly familiar statistics.
 

When I looked back at the closing statements to CSD13 I was struck byhowone could rewrite them, word for word, three years later. As MikeMuller put is so well this morning when he spoke of "the truth andreconciliation about water", "we are talking more and doing less as thechallenges intensify."
 
Rather than go over old ground, I plan to spend the next few minuteslooking ahead. To outline a timetable for political action and to askeveryone here today whether government, UN or NGO, to commit tospecific action, aimed at accelerating progress towards the MDG waterand sanitation targets.
 
It is important to hang onto the fact that these targets areattainable. They are dependent on political choices. And there are somegolden opportunities for political leadership to shine through over thenext four months.
 
Tomorrow seems a good place to start! Ministers will gather to talkabout investing in Africa to achieve the MDGs and to discuss the linksbetween CSD core issues. We can only hope that they talk 'shit'.
 
Sanitation does not normally feature at the top of ministerialdeclarations - and yet it should - not least because we are in themiddle of the International Year of Sanitation, and as ClarissaBrocklehurst said yesterday, "the International Year of the Potatoseems to be getting more attention."
 
But sanitation must be flagged, because there is a blind spot indevelopment policy around sanitation, a failure to recognize itsintegral role in reducing poverty and to the achievement of all of theMDGs.
 
Take MDG2 on education - there has been massive investment and greatadvances in enrollment rates - but there are also very high drop outrates, particularly as girls reach puberty. Lack of sanitation plays abig role here.
 
MDG4 on child mortality has been helped by major immunizationprograms, but, an immunized child can still die from diarrhea in poorsanitation situations.
 
The focus on achieving MDG1 on poverty is on economic growth, and yetthe World Bank estimate that investing in water and sanitation couldboost African growth rates by up to 9%.
 
The sanitation crisis lies at the heart of the MDG failure - and it isthe duty of CSD to keep this high on the UN agenda everyyear.                      
 
The water and sanitation message will hopefully be central to theAfrican Union summit at the end of June, where there is an opportunityfor African leaders to endorse the 'e Thekwini Declaration' signed by32 African Ministers in February; stating that at least 0.5% of GDPshould be spent on sanitation.
 
It will then be incumbent on the G8 leaders, at their summit in July,to show real leadership and drive forward strong commitments on waterand sanitation, including support for a Global Action Plan, backed upwith strong financing and governance measures. It will not be goodenough to merely reinvigorate the Evian Plan of 2003.
 
We were encouraged by the announcement at Davos by Japanese PrimeMinister Fukuda that he intends to focus on health, education and waterat the Summit.
 
This crescendo of political momentum between now and July, should thenprovide the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, with a goldenopportunity in September when he convenes a special summit on the MDGs.As he himself said on World Water Day in March:

"Progress towards the sanitation MDG is hampered by populationgrowth, widespread poverty, insufficient investment and, the biggestculprit of all, lack of political will. Let us go beyond raisingawareness to make a measurable difference in people's lives." TheSecretary General could raise the bar and suggest bold ambitiousmilestones for the water and sanitation MDG targets, with a deadline of2010, so that we get back on track for 2015.
 
For example:

1. All credible costed water and sanitation plans must be fully supported by international aid.
2. 70% of water and sanitation aid is targeted at the poorestcountries (after all the MDG targets could be met without touching thepoorest).
3. This morning Margaret Catley-Carlson suggested several other ideasthat could be targets such as every developing country defines wholeads on water and sanitation within its administration, so thatjurisdiction is clear.

There are surely many other milestones that could be proposed byboth NGOs and Governments to the Secretary General. I would urge theSecretary General to ensure that NGOs are an integral part of theSummit, which could represent a tipping point, a real lifeline to theone in three people in the world living without water and sanitation.
 
So for all of the Distinguished Government Representatives in the room,I ask you to take another look at your Ministerial statements fortomorrow and to consider your input to the UN Summit (with particularresponsibility resting with the G8 and Africa Union States), anddelight us with your bold leadership in determination to grapple theworld's water and sanitation crisis.                           

Finally to all of the NGOs in the room, I commend the End Water Poverty campaign to you.

This is the international campaign calling for water and sanitationfor all. It has over 100 members worldwide and is supported by, amongstothers, WaterAid.
 
In conclusion, we need an extraordinary effort to reverse the politicalneglect of these basic human rights. All of us in this room today havea role to play and I hope that we will not find ourselves reconveningin four years time to re-review CSDs of yore and to lament the lack ofprogress. That would be a travesty. We need a sense of urgency. This isa crisis; it is about taps and toilets. We need political action - andwe have what I would term "the best last opportunity" from now tillSeptember.
 
Thank you Chairman.